Villa Farnese Guided Tour - Italy - Narrated with Captions!

welcome to the town of caprarola located in the latio region of central italy i am martina tour guide of rome guides and today i will be taking you on a tour of the farnesy palace a large renaissance mansion which includes one of the best surviving examples of an italian renaissance garden throughout this walk i will tell you all about the history of the ferneza family and its palace this tour begins on via philippo nikolai just below the church of saint michael the archangel few minutes away from the palace in 1537 pope paul iii combined under a single administration all the lands that his family owned in the lazy region north of rome in a territory called the tusha he transformed them into a duchy called the duchy of castro and ronchillon which preceded the next and more famous one of parma and piacenza it constituted for more than a century until 1649 an autonomous and sovereign state within the papal states in the village of caprarola which was owned by the farnese family since the very first years of the 16th century became the place chosen to build the summer residence of the frenese family which at that time was one of the most illustrious and powerful in europe today caprarola is a small village of just over 5 000 inhabitants on a promontory east of the lake of vico in the middle ages the land around caprarola was considered an inaccessible and impracticable territory also because of the thick boots that cover the promontory and it was only since the 12th century that the village began to assume some importance becoming property of many important roman noble families such as the orcini the anguillara and the de la rover caprarola represents one of the most significant urbanistic examples of the 16th century the ancient medieval village was ripped apart in order to create a spectacular rectilinear road that from the foot of the hill reaches the square in front of the imposing farnese palace but let's go back to the 16th century already around 1515 pope paul iii had decided to build in the highest point of the town a fortress to defend the feud entrusting the design to the talented architect and military engineer antonio de sangalo the younger who availed himself of the collaboration of the architect valdasare perruzzi the two had already cooperated in rome in the construction of saint peter's basilica the project was for a large building with a pentagonal plan bastions on the corners and a vast circular courtyard inside the worker was interrupted almost immediately because of the increase the prestige of the farnese family which encouraged the pope to transform the fortress into noble palace the building had to change from a defensive castle to magnificent summer residents to direct the work the pope appointed his nephew the cardinal alessandro farnese one of the most prestigious of figures within the courier of rome appointed cardinal at the age of 14 alessandro began an extraordinary career he accumulated honors benefits and assignments that earn him enormous fortunes from 1535 until his death he was vice chandler a tattoo that allowed him to reside in the prestigious challengery palace in rome he was the protector of several religious orders he managed the five archbishop bricks nine episcopates and four abbeys he represented a pope at the council of trent during the pontificate of paul iii he was actively involved in international politics and espaligate attended the main european courts for two times during his life he was very close to being elected pope humanistic education and enormous wealth made the cardinal the most important pattern of the time awarding him the title of grand cardinal his library was huge he spoke greek collected statues and ancient coins commissioned paintings from the greatest artists of his times including tuition and financed the construction of very important churches such as the church of jesus in rome he also had a daughter clelia by a lady of the court of the queen of france remember this detail because we will talk about it again at the end of our stroll let us now return to the history of the palace the architect antonio de sangalo the younger died in 1546 in the direction of the works passed to the architect of vignola realized this masterpiece starting from the foundation and ready built the first dronings were made around 1555 and the work was resumed in 1559 in a famous letter sent to cardinal alessandro farnese the architect promises that he will work vigorously a curious word that indicated the speed of the execution confirmed by the fact that at the end of 1560 the first floor was already completed allowing the painters to begin the decoration of the rooms the palace was completed in 1575 as evidenced by a commemorative medal that was minted in the ear to celebrate its completion unfortunately vignola died in 1573 and could not admit either the rear gardens or the double grade elliptical staircase that allowed the access to the palace even if both the gardens and the staircase were realized following exactly the drawings of the architect however the cardinal alessandro farnese who died in 1589 was able to enjoy his palace at the height of its perfection let's examine now for a few minutes the chronology of the decorations inside the palace which we will admire during our walk the entire decorative cycle can be placed between 1560 the year of the beginning of the ornamental paintings in 1583 when the spectacular helicoidal staircase was completed many artists and painters worked inside the palace but the first choice of cardinal farnese was tadeo zukeri helped by his brother federico tadeo zukri was considered the moral and artistic heir of rafael sanzio for his grace elegance and refinement of his works from 1560 to 1566 therefore zukari with the assistance of his brother federico worked at the fernesse palace in caprarola decorating the summer apartments unfortunately on september 1st 1566 tadao zukari died at just 37 years old on the day of his birthday like rafael sanzio a coincidence that associates him even more to the great renaissance master two days later as a great marketing expert the brother federico sent a letter to the cardinal asking to be accepted as his most humble servant and to let him continue the work interrupted by his brother's death in this way federico zuccari was able to work for the cardinal farnese from 1566 to 1569 federico zukori however was much less reliable than his brother a passionate gambler full of extravagant alternative interests he began to appear more and more sporadically at the vernez palace to carry out his decorations certainly federico zukori preferred to remain in rome where there were more opportunities to have fun and make important business acquaintances faced with the pressing demands of cardinal farnese federico zuccari made excuses and raised difficulties until the cardinal lost his patient and broke the contract entrusting the rest of the decoration to the painter jacopo bertolla from parma however there was a big problem jacob robertoya had already a contract he had to paint the walls of the oratory of gonfalon in rome for which he had already been partially paid the cardinal ferneza sent a letter to the director of the oratory in the letter even if with diplomatic words cardinal fernandez threatened directory of the gonfalone to let jakobertoya free writing clearly how he wanted him at all costs and how the gonfalone would have to look for an alternative as soon as possible the result was that starting from 1571 bertolla became the painter of cardinal alessandro farnese so inside the building you will find a spectacular decoration realized between 1560 and 1583 consider one of the most important painting cycles of the second half of the 16th century in italy history mythology heraldry and the holy scriptures are just at the pretext to sing the praises of the frenesi family and of cardinal alessandro in 1731 the palace was inherited by the bourbons of naples and since 1941 it is property of the italian state it is now time to move inside the furnace palace entering a large hall the size of the room highlights how it was destined to the watch guard service indeed the white space allowed the troops to deploy and guaranteed the easy handling of the weapons the two larger friscos painted on the wall in front of the entrance underlined the commitment of the cardinal alessandro farnese as a defender of christianity he was a member of the commission created by pope pius iv to face the turkish draft on the right the liberation of the islands of malta in 1565 from the long siege of solomon the magnificent on the left the departure of the christian fleet from the port of messina the decoration of the vault designed by federico zuccari presents the owners of the building the views are painted on the long sides showing the palace on one side and the village on the renovation on the other side highlight the transformations of the village by architect vignola in the middle of the vault three coats of arms glorify the cardinal alessandro an entire fern as a family related to the habsburgs and the royal family of portugal [Music] baby um the courtyard is the fulcrum of the building and is characterized by its circular shape extremely rare for the period in which it was built the idea of a round courtyard inscribed in a pentagon already appears in a project by antonio de sangalo the younger for the fortress of caprarola while baldassare peruzi has proposed the pentagonal design the circular shape corresponds to a precise wheel of the architect vignola and of the cardinal alessandro farnese and probably reflects reasons of a symbolic kind linked first of all to the ostentation of power as an illustrious president of the palace of the emperor charles v in granada and in the villa madam in rome commissioned by pope liu the 10th the central mask at the center of the floor made of bricks arranged in a fishbone pattern is a work of the 17th century by gervani batissa de bianchi and it acts as an improvement to prevent the flooding of the courtyard the courtyard is delimited by two superimposed particles on the ground floor 20 twin pillars alternate with the 10 arches creating a rhythm reflected in the logic on the main floor and developed vertically through the use of the triumphal arch with ionic the two upper floors of the palace reserved to the cardinals family are set back and invisible from below the expedient allows the harmony of proportions since the height of the quartet corresponds to its diameter about 21 meters and conceals the subsidiary spaces to focus the attention on the size of the courtyard the decoration of the portico was carried out between 1579 and 1581 probably under the direction of antonio tempesta on the vault of the ring dense trellises covered with fruit and flowers and populated by various birds allow a glimpse of the sky the vegetable branches filled with flowers and fruit represented a very traditional decoration in the villas of the 16th century in rome villa julia built by pope julius iii shows exactly the same decoration on the vault of the external corridors on the wall a series of 46 coats of arms celebrate the italian noble families related to the farnese family it was a sort of memorandum recalling alliances and important relationships established over the centuries politically and diplomatically by the frenese family throughout italy our tour starts with a visit of the winter apartment developed along the southwest side of the palace warmer and sunnier the five rooms were decorated by federico zuccari and his assistants between 1567 and 1569 with motives taken from the farnese heraldry this hall traditionally known as the hall of the swans recalled the decoration of a ceiling by julia romano in the villa madame in rome at that time part of the frenesi properties however if you look at the ceiling you can notice the presence of the coat of arms of edoardo farnese among the swans in flight and the freeze with the cardinal hats such as the relationship between these paintings and the nomination of eduardo as cardinal in 1591. this date is confirmed by the statement of the chronicler who in 1578 on the occasion of the visit of pope gregory 13 to caprarola noted that the decoration of the winter apartment was still incomplete on the long sides of the vault are painted two scenes of sacrifice they're interesting are the medals shaped decorations the surmounted the scenes of sacrifice depicting the so-called furnace feats they are symbolic icons that show the qualities and talents of the family itself and that you can find repeated literally everywhere inside the palace especially along the helicoidal staircase [Music] so in the next hall a sort of living room the vault presents a more articulated decoration with the central panel recalling the furnace the feet of the virgin with the unicorn framed by four fantastic landscapes you will notice that all the walls of this apartment are entirely white and not frescoed it was indeed quite normal in the construction of the palaces of the 16th and 17th centuries to cover the walls with color curtains which had the dual function of muffling noise and keeping warm the rooms of the palace that despite the large fireplaces were not easy to heat the first prestigious room of the summer apartment had a representative function and was originally called room of perspective with a reference to the original room painted by baldassare peruzi in the villafernezin in rome which obviously inspired adeo zukari in his wall decorations the false architecture on the walls designed by vignolane painted by his son-in-law jovan battissa fiorini confers greater importance to the room enlarging the space with an illusion but there is also a desire to celebrate the arts and disciplines related to the architecture to which the gilded statues that look out from the niches refer allegorically [Music] the current name of the room whole of jupiter derives from the subject treated in the vault painted by tadeo zukari between 1560 and 1562 with seven sins relating to the childhood of jupiter in the center of the ceiling there are three different frames showing the myth of the goat amaltea in the middle the goat suckling the baby jupiter on the left of the nymphs with the goat and on the right amaltea transformed into a constellation let's now observe the four lateral decorations on the first of the long sides the nymphs fill a broken horn of a maltea with flowers and fruit this gesture symbolizes the creation of the legendary cornucopia the horn overflowing with goods symbol of abundance in the second side panel the cornucopia is presented by the nymphs to jupiter who appreciates it smiling in the third side panel which chronologically precedes the transformation of the goat a maltea in constellation vulcan the blacksmith of the gods offers to jupiter the sheldon made from the skin of a maltea finally the last panel which is chronologically the first of the narrative the birth of jupiter the leader of the roman gods the meaning of the figurations clearly plays with the name of the village that houses the palace caprarola so-called because it was founded by goat farmers jupiter alludes to cardinal alexander while amaltea recalls the town that offered them asylum and for this reason is destined to rise to the honors of fame uh the summer apartment also consists of four smaller rooms each dedicated to a season the only room accessible at the moment is the spring room which according to ancient tradition makes the beginning of the year coincide with the awakening of nature the seasons usually depicted as women and men accompanied by canonical attributes are in these rooms represented by naked children with very unusual attributes the boy who incarnates spring has his head crowned with martel a plan to sacred to venus perhaps as an allusion to spring love and seasonal vitality other details in the panel seem to refer to these themes while the three blue lilies displayed by the puto clearly allude to the insignia of the furnace family the horn in the foreground from which vapors escape perhaps symbolizes leap favored by the season in the first of the four side compartments is represented the metamorphosis of proteus a pagan god able to transform himself into any living being hence the word proteform the second frame shows the rape of proserpine symbolizing the cyclical awakening of nature praserpine the mattress daughter was kidnapped by hades god of the underworld and was forced to spend six months with his mother spring and summer and six months with her husband in the underworld autumn and winter the third panel represents hercules the struggle with akelo the river god akilah like pratus had the power to change his appearance in this fight he appears in the form of a bull while hercules blows off one of his horns like that of amaltea archeloe's horn will also be transformed by the nymphs into cornucopia finally the fourth frame depicts the rape of europe which occurred in spring before you leave this room admire the beautiful grotesque pattern of the ceiling painted by tadeo zukari on a white background real and legendary creatures levitate in the void filling all the spaces in an ornamental decoration born from the discovery of the rooms of nervous domus aurea in rome mistakenly considered gratos hence the name grotesque we are now leaving the apartments on the ground floor crossing again for a moment the splendid circular courtyard to head towards the spectacular spiral staircase that will lead us to the upper floor now get ready to climb the royal staircase a real jewel of the 16th century architecture already celebrated by contemporaries as a masterpiece of the architect vignola and imitated many times the most original aspect of the structure consists in the helicoidal shape used here in an unusual way the spiral staircase often used as a path for servants here becomes a grand staircase for representation the project takes its inspiration from donato bramante's great staircase in the vatican but the 30 couple dory columns projected on the perimeter wall the balustrade the dome the skillful use of light and the precious decoration are distinctive features that differentiate this staircase in a monumental sense from romantic's prototype making it in its turn the model for the subsequent elliptical staircase of the quirinelli palace and the barbarian palace in rome even though we take it from the ground floor the royal staircase actually begins on the underground floor where it welcomed guests arriving by carriage and ends on the first floor known as the noble floor which was the destination of all illustrious visitors the royal staircase is the last part of the palace to have been frescoed being completed in 1583 by the painter antonio tempesta along the way you can see a rich decoration which was meant to introduce the visitor into the magnificent world of the master of the house the cardinal alessandro farnese continuously recalling his futures on the vault of the staircase indeed it's possible to see repeated medallions with the already seen frenese feats which exalt the moral qualities of the cardinal and of his family the most famous one repeated very often depicts the image of a virgin carrying a unicorn accompanied by the motto virtus security attempt virtue generates security to indicate the need for a virtuous life among the others you can admire the arrow hitting the target the winged horse pegasus the argonauts sheep jupiter's lightning and lilies surmounted by a rainbow accompanied by the beautiful and imaginative landscapes created with a skillful mix of italic and flemish style antonio tempesta escorts the visitor to the top of the royal staircase where the majestic dome celebrates cardinal farnese with an allegorical decoration that surrounds the coat of arms through a small vestibule intended for the so called the second guard the royal staircase leads to the portico that surrounds the courtyard on the second floor this annular corridor serves as a connection between the main rooms of the noble floor the gardens and the small service staircases going up to the upper levels the pictorial decoration was carried out around 1577 probably under the direction of antonio tempesta we can see grotesque motives which in the vault frame heraldic enterprises and on the wall frame panels with landscapes and monochrome scenes the main characterization of this corridor consisted in the presence of a series of busts of the twelve roman emperors made by giovanni batista de bianchi whose names can still be read in the niches these busts were moved around 1861 to the farnese palace in rome where they are still located today imagine to enter at the end of the 16th century in this large room and not to see the windows that today close the five large arches in front of you the room where you are now was in reality a larger open on the vast panorama of the village of caprarola that extends before you below the palace simulate that you are in this room and that you can hear the roar of water from the splendid fountain a masterpiece by curtio macaroni an expert hydraulic engineer who also worked in tivoli in the gardens of villa deste observe the mosaic in the background which the chronicles attribute without any particular reason to the great spanish painter el greco and the six ancient statues of carobs restored by giovanni batista de bianchi to the right of the fountain the gentleman coming out of the door with a book under his arm may be identified with full viewer cine librarian and antiquarian of the farnese family almost certainly the author of the iconographic program of the room walking on the admirable polished floor contemplate now the landscape views on the walls depicting the main possessions of the frenesi family integrating the rio panorama enjoyed from the lodger above the two doors you can see maps of the cities of piacenza and parma the capitals of the duchy on the vault among rich tacos with put in high relief are represented the deeds of hercules connected to the territory in the first panel we see hercules sticking a spear into the ground challenging the shepherds to extract it in the second panel several shepherds use all their strength to extract the spear without succeeding hercules on the other hand as can be seen in the third panel easily manages to extract the spear to the amazement of the shepherds at this point to follow the chronological story we have to move to the central panel the sphere of hercules has indeed gone so deep that from the hole begins to come out a huge amount of water which forms the lake of vico not far from caprarola in the fifth and final panel the inhabitants of the surrounding villages build the temple to hercules there is a curiosity in this frisco the architect depicted in the painting is in fact vignola himself the decoration of the room was started by federico zuccari author of the central panel because of these agreements with the cardinal he was then fired and replaced with iacopobertoya who completed the work adapting his style to that of his predecessor and now before continuing our visit let's enjoy for a moment the extraordinary view of caprarola okay the circular room that follows the lodge of hercules is one of the most beautiful jewels of the frenesi palace it is the chapel the first work completed by federico zuccari after the death of his brother tadeo in 1566 the interior gives a feeling of deep and refined harmony thanks to the uniform rhythm of the walls and the ceiling and thanks to the use of light filtered through the stained glass windows the floor designed by vignola is the projection of the dome and is enriched by heraldic lilies and precious marble roundels mirroring the medallions of the vault on the walls federico zuccari painted the three marys at the sepulcher and the twelve apostles among which it is possible to recognize the portraits of tadeo zuccari in judah stadius and of vignola in saint james in the lunettes above the doors are painted gregory the great with the attribute of the dove saint lawrence and saint stephen with their respective instruments of martyrdom the greed iron and the stones the pieta friscoed on the altar is a replica of the splendid canvas that tadeo zuccari had already painted for this chapel but that federico wanted to keep for himself judging it to beautiful on the dome are represented episodes of the old testament in the center the creation of the stars probably the most beautiful frisco by federico zuccari and all around the creation of eve the universal flood the sacrifice of isaac the crossing of the red sea samuel who consecrates king david and finally the same david who receives the tributes for the subjugated peoples the walls illustrate the period of maximum splendor of the dynasty coinciding with the pontificate of paul iii when the farnese family cover their roles of great importance thanks to the help of the pontiff and to a clever matrimonial policy the sumptuous hall of the farnesian glories is dedicated to the diagnostic exaltation of the pharnese family and specifically of cardinal alessandro the sillient moments of the farnese dynasty are exhibited with solemnity painted by tadeo zukari and commented by inscriptions of classical taste the oldest episodes are illustrated in the vault the most recent ones on the walls painted as if they wear tapestries on the first of the short sides you can see in the center the portrait of henry ii king of friends with on the sides the nominations by pope paul iii of pier luigi farnese as captain of the church and orato farnese as prefect of rome the first panel on the long side represents the meeting of worms which took place in 1544 between cardinal alessandro farnese and emperor charles v it was one of the most complicated diplomatic enterprises in the life of the cardinal considering the very tense relations between charles v and paul iii on the same wall there is a fresco showing pope julius iii in 1550 in the act of returning parma to the frenese family note that adeo zukori's great attention to the depiction of costumes and ceremonial distinctive signs of rank and power the frisco that most amazes for the quality of the details is a departure for the lutheran war which took place in 1546 it is indeed a true gallery of portraits easily recognizable by contemporaries visibly inspired by the great skill of venetian painter titian as a portraitist note the details of the cannons and firearms which had completely changed the outcome of battles and wars just over a century ago uh on the opposite short wall to the sides of the portrait of philip ii king of spain you can see the marriages of otavio fernandez to margaret of austria in 1539 and of orazzo farnese to the yanova in 1552 which related the fernandez to the imperial family and the king of france it is now time to talk about the magnificent ceiling which evokes the episodes related to the period of rise and affirmation of the pharnese family since the middle ages at the center of the vault the phone is a coat of arms in the ancient version with 16 lilies first reduced to 9 and then to 6. all around are four allegorical figures representing fame valor spirituality and power the first medallion on the short side shows pietro farnese founding orbetello after defeating the enemies of the church at the beginning of the 12th century opposed to it guido faneze brings peace back to the city of orvieto by driving out the invaders the four panels on the long sides celebrate cardinal alessandro's ancestors as leaders in the service of the church let's observe for a moment the procession depicted in the last of frisco wall representing the meeting in paris between charles v and francis first okay we are now in a sort of intermediate room which should act as an interspace between the whole of the pharnesian glories that we have just seen and the more intimate spaces of the cardinal gradually introducing us to the private rooms of the summer apartment the decoration of this anti-chamber created by the zuccari continues the theme of dynastic exaltation here focused on the figure of pope paul iii the true architect of the fortunes of the farnese family it begins with a fresco depicting paul iii appointing some cardinals his choice will reveal a good one since four of the cardinals he appointed will become popes it continues with important piece of nice between charles v and francis the first a demonstration of the great diplomatic skill of the pontiff next is the fresco that gives its name to the room depicting the council of trent convened in 1545 by pope paul iii in response to the protestant reformation of martin luther depicted together with calvin and zwingli in the foreground on the left observe now the ceiling appreciable for its precious tacos which shows in the center the investiture of pope paul iii and all around the salient episodes of his long pontificate marked by the expansionist threat of the turks and by serious political and religious crisis note in the white and blue ovals the usual farnese feats also noteworthy among the female figures that personify the papal virtues are the splendid illusionistic qurention columns painted at the corners as an ideal support for false marble architraves designed by vignola and much celebrated by his contemporaries a quick glance at the last of wolf frisco depicting the homage of charles v to pope paul iii after the naval victory of toonies in 1535 before moving on to the first room of the summer apartment the room of dawn opens the sequence of the private rooms of the summer apartment which follow one after the other with increasing intimacy smaller than the representative halls these rooms have bare walls ones adorned with heavy curtains or sumptuous silk or leather hangings the room of dawn was intended as a bedroom and on the ceiling are illustrated personifications mythological or allegorical divinities linked to the themes of night and sleep in the central oval painted by tadeo zukari in one of his most poetic works the dawn seems to enter the room through the window heralded by the twilight the knight seeing it coming runs away on her chariot on either side fly the moon and mercury who descends the earth to instill sleep the characters are framed by an architecture painted in perspective which simulates a greater height of the room all around in the medallions you can see mythological characters related to the concept of sleep it begins with apocritis the egyptian god of silence who puts his index finger to his lips it continues with angerona the goddess of secrecy we briefly enter the legendary house of sleep and it ends with a medallion depicting brito the interpreter of dreams the room which connects the summer apartment with the courtyard was a sort of dressing room also considering its proximity to the bedroom even the theme of the decoration entirely made by tadeo zukari confirms its function the scenes represented in the panels of the vault refer to activities such as the spinning weaving coloring of clothes and more generally to the crafting of dresses the same subjects record in the grotesque background where a graceful figures appear tinkering with different types of fabrics in a central panel minerva stands out she was not only the goddess of war and wisdom but was also the inventor of wool processing techniques in the act of teaching the use of clothes to men who honor her with sacrificial offerings so in our itinerary through the private apartment of cardinal alessandro farnese we reach his study a true celebration of solitude the main panels of the vault present two different concepts of solitude as a mean of strengthening the spirit for christians as a final aspiration for philosophers above the fireplace christ saint john the baptist and saint paul come out of isolation to preach this is the sense of duty that must prevail over one's own privacy on the opposite side the philosophers disdainfully avoid any contact with the world a platonic man removes his eyes and a cynic throws the stones against the curious in the smaller panels you can see the portraits of those who have celebrated or practiced solitude poets philosopher and hermits including those sovereigns who abdicating retire from active life such as charles v or diocletian some animals symbolizing solitude are also depicted such as the solitary sparrow the air and the eagle while the white pelican feeding its children with its own entrails symbolizes self-sacrifice if the room you are coming from is a sort of small office this one ascentuates even more its function as it is a place to research a concentration being a small and very private place for the cardinals meditation and study the larger tonneau in the center of the ceiling is one of federico zuccheri's best works and depicts an androgynous being made up of the fusion of hermes and athena identified by a cartouche in greek as hermathena note the clear attributes of the two deities the caduceus of hermes and the shield with the head of meduza belonging to athena the figure symbolizes the union of eloquence and wisdom and although rarely represented it was often evoked in humanistic circles inspired by the great latin lawyer and jurist cicero who first placed it as an ornament of his academy cardinal alessandro farnese probably inserted this subject to underline his role as patron and protector of the bokken academy a prestigious institution of humanistic studies in the spend rules at the corners of the vault are depicted objects related to the sciences and the arts that allude to the invention of hermes and athena in the nets of the vault there are panels with ancient landscapes in one of them it is recognizable the episode of ulysses with the sirens a hymn to the desire for knowledge we have now reached the tower located in the bastion opposite to the entrance door of the farnesa palace the coffered ceiling which shows the coat of arms of the cardinal alessandro surrounded by the phernesian feats was made in 1579 by the master carpenter marco de caprarola to whose workshop the cardinal also entrusted the execution of the coffered ceiling of the roman church of saint lawrence in damaso of which he was the patron the freeze painted on the wall designed by antonio tempesta shows green landscapes framed at the corners by eraldic rampant unicorns this room also had a function related to intellectual activities here the cardinal jealously guarded many of the objects of his extraordinary collection with the exception of books which were instead placed in the room on the upper floor precisely because it is located at the top of the pentagon this room was a sort of architectural head devoted to the exercise of the intellect we now pass through a narrow corridor entirely decorated with illusionistic plant branches to move from the summer to the winter apartments this hall serving halfway between an office and a dining room opens the series of rooms that make up the winter apartment compared to the summer apartment where historical mythological subjects prevail in a winter apartment the decoration is mainly focused on religious themes linked to the atmosphere of the counter reformation also the pictorial style changes since these rooms are decorated by jakob toya more poetic and less solemn than federico zuccari the room is called the hall of penance and takes up the theme of solitude already treated in the summer apartment but elaborating it from a religious point of view on the vault you can see monks and hermits proposed as models of virtue intent on meditation or penance fasting prayer and mortification of the flesh are indicated as means to carry the cross of christ sharing is suffering for this reason the cross is the focus of the central panel the scheme of the declaration is in line with the decrees of the council of trent which emphasized the importance of god works and reaffirmed the value of monasticism which lutherans criticized the decoration of the room known as the hall of judgment praises the wisdom and justice of those who govern with the help of god it is perhaps in this room that the cardinal granted audiences the passages directed towards the courtyard or towards the outside in fact allow the regulation of access guaranteeing the privacy of the adjacent rooms in the center of the vault is the judgment of solomon a paradigmatic example of the concept reiterated by the sins in the two lateral lunettes which depict moses on one side and the judges delegated by him in the act of administering justice on the other in the corners of the vault four episodes that show the consequences of obedience or disobedience to god's laws on one side two examples of punishment on the other the construction of buildings dedicated to the lord the presence of the lilies of the pharnasic coat of arms in the medallions and in the ovals denotes a clear celebratory intent and alludes to the benevolence and justice of the frenese family who govern in obedience to the laws of god uh um let's now enter the winter bedroom of cardinal alessandro conceived in close relationship with all of dawn which in the summer apartment was destined for a similar function the task of evoking the night and rest is here entrusted to biblical subjects in line with the decoration of the entire winter apartment at the center of the vault stands the poetic jacob's dream considered one of the fathers of judaism according to what is written in the book of genesis jacob had a dream a ladder from the earth reached up the heaven with angels ascending and descending from it in a dream god spoke to him promising him the land on which he was living and immense progeny all the other painted sins are taken from the old testament and concern dreams or events that occurred during the sleep of the protagonists such as the creation of eve from the rib of sleeping adam or the ear cat made by delilah on samsung asleep we are almost at the end of our route and now we enter the so-called anti-chamber of the angels consider the masterpiece of jaco pobertoya who also collaborated here with the painter rafaelino the room is dedicated to the angels celebrated as instruments of divine power and justice in the episodes represented on the walls the angels announce or execute the will of the lord benevolent towards the righteous but disdainful towards the wicked in the first panel the archangel michael appears to the shepherd gargano in the second an angel announces god's will to gideon while in the third the most important the archangel michael appears on top of hadrian's mausoleum in rome to announce the end of the plague that was exterminating the population the iconographic program has a strong propagandistic value based on the principles of the council of trend the fundamental idea of the triumph of god over evil is well exemplified by the expulsion of the rebel angels involved and claims the doctrine on spiritual success of the church of rome on the vault we see among the angelic figures pobertoya's self-portrait he is the half-length demon with long ears leaning out of a cloud according to the gossip of the time you could see also the face of clelia the daughter of cardinal alessandro farnese a brief look at the last wall showing daniel being saved from the lion's den before entering the last room the whole of the world maps the representative hall of the winter apartment the whole of the world maps is by far the most famous room of the whole furnace palace and it is the perfect conclusion of our tour the decorations of geographical and astronomical subjects which were very fashionable in the 16th century are linked to the need to adopt the representations of the world after the recent discoveries the execution of the splendid geographical maps designed by the great cartographer vanoszino who had already worked in rome in the vatican lodges and extraordinary celestial vault concealing further symbolic meanings aimed at celebrating the power and aspiration of cardinal farnese on the back wall is the representation of the planning sphere surrounded by heads of putty blowing as an allusion to the winds and by four women placed at the corners as personifications of the continents then known on the long walls are the maps of the four continents known at the time on the wall with the windows it is europe between marco polo and christopher columbus and africa between columbus and ferdinand cortes on the wall opposite to the planetsphere are maps dedicated to the lens of the origin of christianity and church judea and italy with a portrait of amerigo vespucci in the middle finally on the last long wall the maps of asia and america interspersed with the portrait of ferdinand magellan all the maps are accompanied by a scaly miles painted in gold as the traces of the coasts they have few fantasy decorations and only on the less known borders in full respect of the scientific nature of the decorations on the vault a spectacular celestial map depicts over 50 constellations through the mythological characters associated to them the sky is represented at the time of the winter solstice observe the precision with which the golden stars are distributed represented on the basis of the most modern astronomical maps and the perfection of the golden lines projections of the circles of the celestial spheres such as the equator and the tropics at the base of the central meridian of the frisco is placed the lily typical of the uralic coat of arms of the frenesi family the position of it suggests a key location which serves as the origin of astronomical references we have arrived at the end of our tour of the farnesy palace in caprarola a final short walk on the circular balcony of the noble floor will lead us to the exit door we hope you enjoyed this experience of art and beauty for us it was a real pleasure to lead you to the discovery of this shining gem now we leave you to enjoy a well-deserved final stroll surrounded by the nature of the farnese palace gardens in a green maze that will allow you to re-evoke what you admired with us enjoy your walk and thank you for your attention so so so so you so so [Applause] so so [Applause] uh so so so so so come on um [Applause] so uh um hmm so so so so so so do so [Applause] so so so so [Applause] so so [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] so [Music] you

2021-05-07 05:36

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